Gospel of the Ebionites is the conventional name given to the description by Epiphanius of Salamis of a gospel used by the Ebionites. All that is known of the gospel text consists of seven brief quotations found in Chapter 30 of a heresiology written by Epiphanius known as the Panarion. The quotations were used as part of a polemic to point out inconsistencies in the beliefs and practices of the Ebionites relative to Nicene orthodoxy. The seven citations are numbered GE 1 to GE 7 in Schneemelcher's New Testament Apocrypha.
The original title of the gospel is unknown. Epiphanius mistakenly identifies it as the "Hebrew" gospel, believing it to be a truncated and modified version of the Gospel of Matthew. The text is a gospel harmony of the Synoptic Gospels composed in Greek with various expansions and abridgments reflecting the theology of the writer. Distinctive features of the text include the absence of the virgin birth and genealogy of Jesus, an adoptionist Christology in which Jesus is chosen to be God's son at the time of his baptism, Jesus' appointed task of abolishing the Jewish sacrifices, and an advocacy of the practice of vegetarianism. The gospel harmony is believed to have been composed sometime during the first half of the 2nd century in or around the region East of the Jordan River. The gospel text was said to be used by "Ebionites" during the time of the early church, however the identity of the group or groups that used the text remains a matter of conjecture.
The Gospel of the Ebionites is one of the Jewish-Christian Gospels, along with the Gospel of the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Nazoraeans, which survive only as fragments in quotations of the early Church Fathers. Because so little of the text is known, its relationship to the other Jewish-Christian Gospels and a hypothetical original Hebrew Gospel has been a subject of scholarly investigation. More recently, it has been recognized that the gospel harmony is a distinctive text from the others and it has been identified more closely with the lost Gospel of the Twelve. A similarity between the Gospel and a source document contained within the Clementine Recognitions (Rec. 1.27–71), conventionally referred to by scholars as the Ascents of James, has also been noted with respect to the command to abolish the Jewish sacrifices.
Read more about Gospel Of The Ebionites: Background, Composition, Christology, Vegetarianism, Relationship To Other Texts, Inferences About The Ebionites
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“The Gospel of the army is cunning, as of all other human activities. The wisdom of the snake under the meekness of the sheep is what wins out.
The first Commandment is—never let them get anything on you—
The second: Graft—get privileges others haven’t got—worm yourself into confidence
The Third—seem neat and prosperous—as if you had money in the bank—”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“The Gospel of the army is cunning, as of all other human activities. The wisdom of the snake under the meekness of the sheep is what wins out.
The first Commandment is—never let them get anything on you—
The second: Graft—get privileges others haven’t got—worm yourself into confidence
The Third—seem neat and prosperous—as if you had money in the bank—”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“This is the gospel of labour, ring it, ye bells of the kirk!
The Lord of Love came down from above, to live with the men who work.
This is the rose that He planted, here in the thorn-curst soil:
Heaven is blest with perfect rest, but the blessing of Earth is toil.”
—Henry Van Dyke (1852–1933)